Having a bicycle in an urban environment provides a person a way to get to a desired destination while avoiding traffic, getting physical exercise, and protecting the environment. Despite these benefits, urban bicycling also poses significant dangers for the bicyclist. Unlike a car, a bicycle usually does not have built-in lights that notify vehicle drivers of the bicyclist's current or upcoming movements. As a result, generally, bicyclists have to provide these signals personally, such as by using their hands to signal the direction of a turn. Providing such signals can distract the riders from steering their bicycles, increasing the risk of the bicyclists getting into an accident. Further, such signals may be hard to spot for vehicle drivers on the road when visibility is poor, such as during bad weather conditions or at night. In addition, a bicyclist may not be able to convey all necessary signals with his or her hands in a timely manner; for example, a bicyclist may not be able to timely and effectively show that he is slowing down or that his bicycle has broken down. These difficulties in providing signals regarding a bicyclist's movements to others on the road make urban bicycling increasingly dangerous, with the danger being proportional to the number of vehicles on the road.
Current technology is inadequate for dealing with these challenges. For example, the SEIL™ bag, designed by Lee Myung Su Design Lab of Seoul, South Korea, is a wearable bag that includes an LED display visible on the surface of the bag and that can display traffic signals under control of a wireless remote control that can be attached to a bicycle. The signals can be customized through a mobile application. While providing a way for a bicyclist to signal his movements through the LED display, the bag still requires the bicyclist's input for each of the signals to be displayed. Considering that a bicyclist's movements often change during the ride, the requirement for user input means that either the bicycle rider is going to be dangerously distracted during the ride or the rider will not be signaling all of the user's movements.
Similarly, Hammerhead™ designed by Hammerhead Navigation Inc. is a device that attaches to a bicycle and directs the user where to turn based on data received from the user's mobile phone, with the data being based on a route entered into the phone. In addition, the device includes headlights that can provide a light to allow the bicycle to be visible at night. Thus, while Hammerhead, can let others know that the bicycle is on the road and can also provides a bicyclist with directions, the device fails to signal others on the road regarding the bicyclists' movements.
Likewise, FOS, designed by Anders Nelson of San Francisco, Calif., USA, is a fabric patch that contains an LED grid that can be wirelessly programmed from a user's phone. The patch can be attached to a bag or a piece of clothing and can repeatedly display the programmed images. While the patch increases the visibility of the user in general, the patch fails to communicate in real time which direction the user is moving at.
Fraunhofer Institute of Germany has developed a wearable biker clothing that includes LED lights connected to accelerometers to sense where the biker is turning and to signal the turns using the lights. However, such clothing does not give the biker any control over the signals, and provides those signals only once the biker is in motion; thus, other people on the road may not get any advanced warning of the biker's movements.
CycleNav™, produced by Schwinn®, a division of Dorel Industries Inc. of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, is a device that attaches to a front of a bicycle and provides the bicycle rider directions based on the rider's GPS coordinates and a preplanned route on a smartphone application that communicates with the device. However, this device does not signal the rider's movements to others. Similarly, Citi Bike® Helmet designed by Adafruit Industries LLC of New York, N.Y., USA, uses LEDs installed on a helmet to give directions to a bicycle rider to a nearest Citi Bike® station, with the navigation being performed using a GPS and a compass built into the helmet. However, the LEDs on the helmet do not provide clearly-visible signals to others on the road.
Helios Bars™, designed by Helios of San Francisco, Calif., USA, are handle bars that can be installed on a bicycle. The coordinates of the bike can be tracked using a GPS tracker included in the bars, allowing to locate a bicycle with the bars. The bars include an accelerometer and can provide a visual indication on the bars of how fast the user is going by changing their color. However, while the color of the bars can provide the speed to the bicycle rider, the change in color may be hard to spot for drivers on the road, and even if they do spot the change, the change in color of the bike handle bar may not be meaningful to the drivers on the road. Similarly, other information communicated by the bars may not be clearly visible to drivers on the road. The bars are wirelessly connectable to a smartphone, and can receive turn-by-turn navigation directions from the smartphone, which are conveyed via a blinking LEDs mounted on the appropriate side of the bars. The user can also turn on the blinking LEDs by pressing buttons on the bars. However, the light provided by the blinking LEDs may be blocked by the body of the rider, and thus only traffic located in a particular position relative to the rider of the bicycle may see the lights. In addition, the use of Helios Bars requires a bicyclist to make physical changes to his bicycle, installing the bars whose ergonomics may not be suitable for a particular user. Further, the Helios Bars lack brake levers, and their installation can further inconvenience the rider and impair the rider's abilities to operate the bars. In addition, the bars are not suitable for use on any other mode of transportation, such as motorcycle.
The Brake Light™ backpack, developed by Adafruit Industries of New York, N.Y., USA, is a backpack that includes weather-proof lights that can show brake lights and turn signals for a motorcycle rider. The lights can be activated using a wireless remote control, or using an accelerometer that detects when the rider brakes. Operating the remote control can require precise finger movements, creating a significant potential for error and a display of an incorrect turn signal. Further, providing the signal requires constant input from the rider, distracting the rider from the road, and the necessity to operate a remote control can further distract the rider.
Accordingly, there is a need for a way to provide clear, easily interpretable, signals regarding a user's movements without requiring constant attention of the user while allowing the user to take control of the signaling when desired.